A loyal Chinese couple who are now both over 100 years old are still very much in love after a long-lasting marriage of 96 years and counting.

Following the death of her parents, Wei Basao, the now 103-year-old wife, had been adopted by her husband Wei Qishou's family when she was just a little girl, through a custom known as "tongyangxi".

Tongyangxi, Mandarin for "child raised as a daughter-in-law", is an ancient form of arranged marriage in which a family would adopt a preadolescent girl as a future bride for one of their equally young sons.

Basao was just six when she arrived in the home of Qishou, now aged 102, in the Taiping Village of Guilin, a city in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and the two were raised together as a couple .

Wife Wei Basao and her husband Wei Qishou have been married for almost 100 years (Image: CEN)

Basao said: "In the evening, we had dinner with all the family's elders, and we were married ."

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The family, who relied mostly on farming to survive, was reportedly very poor, and Basao and Qishou often had to sleep on bare beds, but the husband's family treated Basao well, offering her food even when they did not have enough to eat themselves.

Wei Basao and her husband Wei Qishou have farmed all their lives (Image: CEN)

When the couple were older, Qishou began earning a meagre income as a farmer, while his wife also chipped in with money earned from making shoes by hand - and they have lived that way ever since.

Wei Basao and her husband Wei Qishou have five sons and a daughter (Image: CEN)

They ended up having five sons and a daughter who now visit their elderly parents when possible.

Residents in Taiping Village said they have never seen Basao and Qishou argue, and that they can often be seen walking through the village hand-in-hand - whenever the weather permits.